Order of the Crescent
Encyclopedia
- For the medieval Order of the Crescent, see Ordre du CroissantOrdre du CroissantThe Ordre du Croissant was a chivalric order founded by Charles I of Naples and Sicily in 1268. It was revived in 1448 or 1464 by René I, king of Jerusalem, Sicily and Aragon , to provide him with a rival to the English Order of the Garter...
.
The Imperial Order of the Crescent (Ottoman Turkish - Hilal Nişanı) was a chivalric order
Chivalric order
Chivalric orders are societies and fellowships of knights that have been created by European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades...
of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. It was instituted in 1799 by Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Selim III
Selim III
Selim III was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV...
when he wished to reward Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
, an Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, for his victory at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
. All the existing Ottoman
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
orders could not be awarded to non-Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, and so Selim specially created the Order of the Crescent as a one-off for Nelson, making him its first Knight and sending him the insignia in August 1799. (He also rewarded Nelson with the separate award of the chelengk
Chelengk
A chelengk is a decoration of the Ottoman empire. It was a turban ornament consisting of a central flower with leaves and buds, and thirteen upward-facing rays...
.) The Order was then extended to reward further the British military success on land and sea against Napoleon's
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
forces in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and the Eastern Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
in 1801.
Nelson was proud of his award - he appended it to his name in the Articles of Capitulation with Denmark after the Battle of Copenhagen on 9 April 1801 (news of which appending so pleased the Sultan that he added a ribbon and gold medal to Nelson's star). However, the British Royal Warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
at the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
allowing him to wear it is only dated 20 March 1802. Nelson also constantly wore a replica of his Order of the Crescent on his British naval uniform coats, though on the coat he wore at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
it is sewn on upside-down and in his posthumous portrait by Arthur William Devis
Arthur William Devis
Arthur William Devis was an English painter of history paintings and portraits. He was appointed draughtsman in a voyage projected by the East India Company in 1783, under Captain Henry Wilson, in which he was wrecked on the Pelew Islands before proceeding to Canton and thence to Bengal...
it is shown the wrong way up.
Recipients (usually naval or army officers or representatives of Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
or France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, highly present in the region during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
) were awarded a lozenge-shaped silver radiant star, embroidered in silver thread on an azure
Azure
In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
background with a star and crescent
Star and crescent
A star and crescent featuring in some combination form the basis of symbols widely found across the ancient world, with examples attested from the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia....
in the centre, and a red ribbon, to be worn with the crescent to the star's left. The order had two degrees, Knight First Class and Knight Second Class - First Class wore the insignia like a scarf, with the badge appendant (i.e. hung from the collar), whilst Second Class knights wore a slightly smaller version with no star, jewelling or ornamentation and a narrower ribbon saltier
Saltire
A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....
-wise (i.e. on a diagonal ribbon from one shoulder to the opposite waist).
Recipients
- Horatio Nelson, Knight, 1799, by Selim III
- Thomas StainesThomas StainesSir Thomas Staines, , Captain in the Royal Navy, Knight Commander of the Bath, and of the Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, and Knight of the Ottoman Order of the Crescent....
, c.CircaCirca , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1801, by Selim III - Charles Marsh SchombergCharles Marsh SchombergSir Charles Marsh Schomberg was the youngest son of the naval officer Alexander Schomberg and Arabella Susannah Chalmers, and followed his father's profession...
, Knight, 1801, by Selim III - Lord HutchinsonJohn Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of DonoughmoreGeneral John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore GCB was an Anglo-Irish politician, hereditary peer and soldier.-Background:He was the son of John Hely-Hutchinson and the Baroness Donoughmore...
, Knight Ist Class, by Selim III - Major General Sir Eyre Coote, Knight Ist Class, by Selim III
- Lord Keith, Knight Ist Class, by Selim III
- Sir Richard Bickerton, Knight Ist Class, by Selim III
- Sébastiani de La Porta, Knight Ist Class, 1807, by Mustafa IVMustafa IVMustafa IV was sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1807 to 1808.-Biography:...